Royal recall frees Diana's ex-butler

Queen intervenes

theft case dropped

November 02, 2002|By The Washington Post.

LONDON — The butler, apparently, didn't do it.

Paul Burrell, the royal servant accused of stealing 310 items belonging to the late Princess Diana and her family, walked free from the Old Bailey on Friday after a surprise intervention by Queen Elizabeth II. She said Burrell had told her that he had taken some of her late daughter-in-law's papers for safekeeping.

The queen's statement, issued by Buckingham Palace, caused the prosecution to withdraw all charges. Prosecutors and police had claimed Burrell told no one he had the items.

"I'm thrilled, so thrilled," said Burrell, who burst into tears when the judge announced his acquittal and was still drying his eyes when he emerged from the courthouse an hour later. "The queen has come through for me."

The sudden ending left a trail of embarrassment and confusion. Among the questions: Why hadn't the queen come forward sooner to exonerate her former footman? Why hadn't police and prosecutors followed up on the butler's written statement that he had had a private session with the queen in the weeks after Diana's death in August 1997? And why hadn't Burrell revealed the contents of the discussion?

Buckingham Palace released a statement saying the queen had not been briefed or questioned about the prosecution's case, and had come to realize the potential importance of her information only after discussing it with her son Prince Charles and her husband, Prince Philip.

Charles took the information to the police, who passed it on to prosecutors Monday. On Tuesday, the trial, entering its third week, was postponed.

Burrell's lawyer, Andrew Shaw, told reporters, "The prosecution was based on numerous errors." Reading from a statement, Shaw said, "It's surprising that no inquiries were made of the queen in relation to that meeting."